


Invisible String

by hosiecvlt



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: After Malivore, F/F, Soulmates, slowish burn i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27275521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hosiecvlt/pseuds/hosiecvlt
Summary: “There’s this Japanese Legend of the Red String. Everyone’s pinky is tied to an invisible red string that will lead them to another person whom they will make history with. The string is believed to be fate itself.”Or;After Hope returns from Malivore, she reconciled with Josie Saltzman first.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 22
Kudos: 172





	1. Chapter 1

After Hope is spit out of Malivore, she finds Josie Saltzman crying alone in the woods. 

Hope always feels a bit of her heart breaking whenever she sees the brunette cry, and now is not any different. 

Of course it’s different. 

Josie doesn’t remember her, and when Hope calls out to her and announces her presence, Josie jumps a bit. Hope wishes she could just sit in the empty chair next to Josie, talk to her and ask her why she’s crying, but Josie’s tears don’t stop. 

Instead, despite the fact that Hope just walked on Josie crying, Josie frowns as her eyes land on the wound on Hope’s stomach. 

“You’re hurt.” 

“I’m a werewolf,” Hope quickly deflects. “I’ll be fine. Why are you crying?” 

Shit. Real smooth, Hope. You don’t ask strangers why they’re crying. 

Josie’s not a stranger. Hope is. The whole situation is very confusing. 

“My, uh… My boyfriend left town again,” Hope raises her eyebrows.  _ Boyfriend? _ Left town.  _ Again?  _ No boy could ever be worth all the tears Josie has spilled. “One of my best friends is a werewolf, too… he’s… He’s stuck in wolf form. I’ve been trying to help him all summer, but I think I just hurt him more instead.” 

_ Rafael.  _

“Well,” Hope starts quietly, licking her chapped lips. She must look like shit. Clothes tattered, face bruised and her hands caked in her own blood. “Let’s go find him.” 

Josie only frowns again. 

Right. She’s a stranger. A stranger. A bloody, weird looking stranger. One who clearly doesn’t belong here.

“You’re not one of the new students,” Josie observes. “But you got past our barrier spell.” 

“Told you I was a wolf,” Hope offers a smile, but it doesn’t do much to soothe Josie. Josie looks like she’s trying to decide what to say to Hope next, “Actually, uhm, there’s a monster and I need your help. I don’t know what it is, but they stabbed me and I haven’t been able to heal.” 

Hope  _ was  _ stabbed by some creature when she had gotten out of Malivore. She had also killed it, rather than question it. That was hours ago. Hope is usually healed by now, which has led Hope to the conclusion that she’s been poisoned and may die any second. 

Which, technically, she wouldn’t be dead. She would just become a tribrid, but she doesn’t want…  _ that _ . 

“Let me look.” Josie states simply, as if she accepts Hope’s ridiculous story of a small green monster stabbing her. 

“I killed the monster,” Hope rambles on, feeling a bit conscious at the idea of showing her wound to Josie, “So, if it poisoned me, there's a good chance I'll just die.” 

Josie’s eyes are still red from crying, but Hope feels better when she doesn’t see anymore tears. “We have a nurse at the school,” Josie tells her. “We have to be quiet, my dad will kill me if he finds out.” 

Alaric. Hope guesses he’s still the headmaster. 

“So will the new headmaster.” 

Okay, no more Alaric looming over her shoulder. Yay. 

Josie leads Hope back to the school, and Hope finally relaxes once she steps foot into the building. She’s exhausted. After Josie helps her, she’ll just go to her old dorm and- 

Hope can’t do that. As soon as she’s healed, she needs to find Rafael. After she helps Rafael, she has to leave. She can’t just  _ stay  _ here, can she? She’s already ran into Josie again, but there’s been no sign of Landon, or Lizzie. Where are MG and Kaleb? 

The hallways are empty, and once they reach the nurse’s office, Hope sits on the table. Her and Josie stare at each other for a few moments before Hope realizes why Josie’s watching her. 

Right. The bloody, gaping wound on her stomach can’t be observed if she’s wearing a jacket and a shirt. 

Hope shrugs out of her jacket, and Josie glances away as Hope lifts her shirt over her head. Hope had thought that she had gotten used to the pain a while ago, but the fabric is caked with blood and sticks to her skin. She winces a bit when it peels away painfully. 

It’s worse than Hope had thought. 

The veins around the wound have turned this weird mix of green and purple, and the edges of the wound look like its been burned- which doesn’t make sense, because if Hope was burned, she would have stopped bleeding a long time ago. 

Josie makes a face when she looks at it. Hope frowns. Josie pokes at it. 

“Ow!” Hope hisses. 

“Sorry, sorry, I’m sorry,” Josie pulls her prodding finger away quickly, holding her hands up. “I was just…”

“Do you even know what you’re doing?” 

“It would be alot easier if you told me what stabbed you?” 

Hope groans and leans against the wall behind her. She’s so, so tired. She just wants to find a bed and fall asleep for the next three days. Everything else can wait. She just needs some sleep, then she’ll be fine. 

Even ten minutes will be fine. A power nap, then she can go storm into the woods and help Rafael. Ten minutes… that’s all she needs. 

“Hey,” Josie pats her knee, causing Hope’s eyes to fly open. “Don’t close your eyes.” 

“I’m so tired.” 

“I know, I need you to stay awake,” Josie replies, opening the medicine cabinet. Hope has no idea how long her eyes were closed, how long she was out of it, because Josie has made a mess. There’s a few jars of healing paste, an open spell book, vials of blood and a bunch of special herbs. “What’s your name?” 

Hope’s jaw clenches. For a second, with the way Josie was looking at her, Hope had forgotten that Josie doesn’t remember her name. It was as if nothing had changed. 

“Hope… Hope Marshall.” 

“I’m Josie.” 

She starts flipping through the book again, and Hope finds herself watching. Josie mumbles some of the spells to herself quietly, and frowns a bit when she doesn’t find what she’s looking for. 

“You said you’re a wolf, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

Josie’s suddenly in front of Hope again. She has a pile of bandages in her hands, soaking up the blood from Hope’s wound. “This is going to hurt,” Josie explains, “So if you need something to bite on or…” 

“Just do it.” 

Josie listens, grabbing a paste that doesn’t smell or look like any sort of healing paste Hope has ever used before, picks some up with her fingers and doesn’t waste any time applying it to the wound. 

Hope wishes she had listened to Josie’s advice, because it  _ burns.  _ Burns more than anything, and Hope swears that for a few seconds she can smell her own flesh burning. It’s excruciatingly painful, and Hope may let out a few tears. 

The door slams open. 

Lizzie and Alaric stand in the doorway. For a few moments, the four of them are frozen. Hope realizes that the whole thing may look bizarre, with Hope’s blood everywhere- even on Josie’s hands and- well, it doesn’t look  _ good.  _

Hope and Josie share a glance, and Josie’s brown eyes are the last thing Hope sees. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who read the first chapter! It means a lot lol. Anyways, here’s chapter two 😁

She passed out. 

Being poisoned by some small green creature that Hope can barely remember is embarrassing enough, but passing out from pain? It’s embarrassing. As a tribrid, Hope had thought that her pain tolerance was pretty high. 

Maybe it’s just another thing that’s changed with Malivore. Fuck Malivore. 

When she wakes up, she’s in bed and there’s a cup of water next to her. She drinks the whole thing, and hears footsteps outside. 

Apparently, someone is standing guard, because she hears an exasperated sigh. 

“Dad…” 

Josie. 

And Alaric. Gross. 

“Josie, no.” 

“She was dying, you can’t be mad at me for that!” 

“I’m not.” Alaric answers, in that same dismal tone he uses with Josie whenever he’s mad at her. He’s a terrible liar, and Josie knows it, too. “It was reckless for you to bring a stranger onto campus like that. She could have hurt you.” 

“She was  _ dying. _ ” 

“And now she’s not. Go to class.” 

“I just want to check on h-”

“ _ Josie.”  _

Another sigh. A pair of footsteps leave, and Hope guesses that she won’t be seeing Josie anytime soon. After her footsteps recede, there’s about a twenty second wait before Alaric barges in- this time, with his crossbow in his hands. Hope rolls her eyes. 

She wonders if his intimidation tactic actually works on anyone. She hasn’t seen a successful attempt- every supernatural can outpower an old man with his crossbow. For a few excruciatingly long seconds, he stares at her, fiddling with his crossbow. Hope doesn’t miss the way that his finger rests on the trigger, clearly a bit over excited at the idea of shooting someone. 

Hope doesn’t know if she should say anything. Before the whole Malivore thing, it took Hope two years to gain Alaric’s trust- and even then, they always walked the very thin line of it. One simple argument would make Alaric act like she’s a copy of her father, or it would make Hope seconds away from snapping his neck. 

It’s all about balance. 

Eventually, Alaric moves again. He clears his throat in that awkward way he does when he tries to come across as an adult. He ends up handing her a water bottle, eyeing the empty cup Hope had drank. 

She drinks all of that, too. Alaric watches her. It’s the first time in years that he seems to actually be concerned about her. 

“Who are you?” 

“Hope Marshall.” 

He narrows his eyes. Hope would say Mikaelson, but she’s sure Alaric would either run for the hills or she would end up with an arrow in her heart. Either way, it’s an undesired result. She wills him to leave silently, but he continues to lurk creepily as he observes her carefully, as if he’s expecting her to crack and pour out her entire life story to him. 

“My daughter says you’re a werewolf.” He comments. Hope wonders if he’s going to throw her towards a full moon to prove it. 

“I am.” 

“You’re lying,” He starts, “I had Dorian run a few tests on you after you passed out. You’re a witch, too.” 

“My parents were wolves, my aunt was a witch. Long story.” Hope grumbles. She really doesn’t feel like talking to Alaric, or about her family for that matter. When she was in Malivore, she had told Clarke that she needed to get out to see Landon- to  _ protect  _ him. 

The thing is, Hope’s words were different than her inner turmoil. 

She didn’t miss Landon half as much as she had expected to, but he is-  _ was  _ her boyfriend. She had to miss him, had to long for him and let Clarke know this. It was easier than trying to explain the heavy feeling in her chest whenever she imagined what Josie was doing. 

If Josie was okay after the bullet and the attack from Triad. If Josie was happy and with MG and the rest of her friends. If she was  _ safe.  _ Of course, Landon crossed Hope’s mind, too, and of course she had wondered if he was safe, as well. She wondered that about all of her friends, but her mind wandered to Josie more. 

They always say that when you spend time apart from someone, the first thing you forget is their voice. Then it’s smaller things, like the way they smile or the way they look when they’re concerned. 

Hope was determined to never forget Josie. 

After a while, she started to forget what Landon and the rest of her friends sounded like, or all of the other things that made them who they are. She didn’t  _ want  _ to, but she did, alone in the dark aside from the monsters and the annoying presence of Ryan Clarke. 

She never forgot Josie. She would rack her brain to remember things- and the harder Hope thought, the more she realized she had forgotten, even before jumping into Malivore.

So, Hope would sit alone in the dark, and while Clarke would go on his rants, Hope would picture Josie. How Josie had smiled at her when they were younger, or how Josie had laughed and said  _ you poked yourself.  _ How she had uttered the words,  _ I didn’t want Lizzie to know the truth. I had a crush on you.  _

Then, the memories of Josie at their first Salvatore vs Mystic High football game. Hope had opted to sit the game out for obvious reasons, but Josie- being the kind person she was, stormed around the school getting people to join so her father wouldn’t look like an incompetent headmaster. 

They won the game that year- on accident when Josie had caught the ball Lizzie threw at her- according to Josie, she didn’t realize she was in the end zone. They were fourteen when that happened, but Hope swears that was the happiest she had seen Josie in years. 

Of course, it was also the  _ last  _ time Josie scored a game-winning touchdown. 

Hope always left less lonely when she thought about Josie. Thinking about Landon always ended up making her feel frustrated and mad at him. There were a few times when thinking about Josie had made her upset, and maybe- just  _ maybe  _ Hope had cried a few times, but that was only because she realized she missed the other girl so much. 

“Hope?” 

“What?” She snaps, and Alaric’s grip on the crossbow tightens. She rolls her eyes again. 

“I talked to the student council. We decided that you can stay for now, but by the end of the month, they’ll be deciding if you’re welcomed,” He starts, looking a bit upset over the information he’s sharing with her.

Yay. Student council is still a thing. Hope wonders if Josie still represents the witches. 

“You are expected to go to class like the rest of my students in the meantime.” 

“Got it.” 

“If you go near my daughter again, I will not hesitate to get rid of you.” 

Hope laughs to herself at the threat. Alaric, getting  _ rid  _ of her? It’s not the first time she has heard that empty threat from him. Besides, Hope doesn’t plan on staying much longer. Once she helps Rafael transform back to his human self, everyone will be better off without her. 

Especially Josie. 

Right? Josie has a boyfriend now. She’s managed just fine without Hope, and the school didn’t magically burn itself down without her presence. Maybe she’ll go back to New Orleans. Or Paris. She can do whatever she wants- right?

“I didn’t do anything to your daughter,” Hope finds herself saying. “She saved my life, that’s it.” 

Alaric continues to stare at her. Hope wonders if he can see through her. He may be a terrible father, but he knows when people lie- sometimes. 

“Emma will stop by to give you your schedule and show you to your room,” He tells her. “I have to go.” 

Alaric storms out after that, and Hope sighs. 

Despite her tribrid healing, and Josie’s amazing healing skills, she’s still sore from the whole thing. She waits for Alaric’s footsteps to disappear. Once he’s far enough, she forces herself to step out of the bed, despite how comfortable it is. She needs to find Rafael. 

Josie had briefly mentioned that she’s spent the past few months trying to help him- Hope wonders if Josie had gotten close to figuring out the whole thing, knowing how Josie could spend hours with her nose in a book, absorbing information. Hope’s never seen anything quite like it, if she were honest. 

Hope sneaks through the halls without running into any students, or teachers. When she slips into Rafael and Landon’s room, she practically yelps and slams the door in her own face when she sees Josie. 

She spends the next few seconds wondering if she should run, or knock on the door. 

Josie makes the choice for her, opening the door slowly and poking her head through the crack. She’s pouting again- looking at Hope with sad brown eyes. Hope makes the mistake of letting her eyes fall to the shirt Josie is wearing.

Landon’s flannel. 

It makes sense, Hope guesses. She was wiped from both of their minds and spent months away. On paper, Josie and Landon look like they’ll make sense, both of them kind and awkward in a charming way, both loyal and… 

Who is she kidding? It makes no sense. Landon has a tendency to leave, and Hope knows that Josie has a tendency to blame herself when the people she loves leave her, as if she’s the one who’s done something wrong. 

Josie clears her throat when Hope doesn’t say anything, and her stares seem to make her uncomfortable. She tugs on the sleeves of the flannel, and seems to try to make herself smaller. 

Hope can’t help but frown. She hates it when she notices Josie do that, like Josie feels guilty for just  _ being  _ there. 

“I’m here to help.” Hope announces. 

Josie gives her a confused look. “With… what?” 

“Your friend,” Hope answers. “You said he was stuck in wolf-form, and I’m a wolf. Ready to help. With anything.” 

“Uhm… Isn’t Emma supposed to be giving you a tour of the school?” 

Hope ignores the question. 

“I want to help your friend. You saved me last night, I owe you one.” 

“You passed out for two days,” Josie tells her. “Even with your wolf healing, you’re in no condition to help.” 

Welp. Alaric forgot to mention  _ that  _ particular detail. Hope had truly thought it was a few hours she was out, with the way Josie was already at her door when she woke up. 

Does that mean Josie was routinely checking up on her? The idea makes Hope look away from the taller witch, suddenly embarrassed at the idea of taking up so much of her time. 

Josie must take Hope’s movement as Hope becoming upset, because in a worried, rushed voice, “It’s not that I don’t  _ want  _ your help, it’s just that you’re still healing, and I tried to go out to Raf last night, but he never showed up, so I did a tracking spell and he just… He didn’t want to see me. It may be too late to help him, and I don’t want to waste your time.” 

“It won’t be.” Hope finds herself whispering, her voice thick with too much emotion for a stranger. 

Josie notices, but she doesn’t say anything. She allows Hope to step into the room, and Hope starts to feel a bit overwhelmed. 

Josie starts grabbing some of Rafael’s clothes and shoving them into a bag while Hope stands to the side and tries to act like a normal stranger, not one who’s almost crying at the sight of a stranger’s room. 

The side that was once Landon’s is practically empty, if you ignore the guitar in the corner and the pictures that are thrown across his dresser. There’s pictures of him with Josie. 

Hope tries to not linger on them, but she can’t help but look- especially when Josie’s smiling brightly with him in one, them wearing identical football uniforms. Another one, with Josie, Landon, and MG sitting around a fire. Hope guesses that Lizzie’s the one who took the picture, since there’s then another one that’s missing MG, but has Landon with the twins. 

Josie looks happy in every single one. It makes Hope’s heart twist in a strange way, especially when she thinks that Josie never looked that happy when she knew Hope. 

Hope doesn’t know why she’s focusing on Josie. She should be upset that Landon’s the one that looks happier without her, right? 

Josie clears her throat awkwardly again. Hope peels her eyes off the pictures. 

“Sorry,” Hope whispers. “I was just… Nice pictures. Is that your boyfriend?” She stutters uselessly. 

Something crosses Josie’s features. “Not anymore.” 

They leave it at that, and Hope offers to hold Josie’s bag, but Josie ends up insisting that she can take care of it herself. After that, they’re left in an awkward silence as they follow the tracking spell Josie had performed earlier. 

Josie doesn’t question Hope’s motives- which seems a bit unlike Josie, since Hope knows Josie likes to gather some information before she decides to trust someone completely. 

Rafael must have gotten very comfortable with the woods during his time as a wolf, because her and Josie spend at least an hour wandering them. They pass the time in quiet questions, or a few awkward glances. 

Eventually, they come to a little clearing where Rafael is curled up into a ball. 

“Raf!” 

It takes everything in Hope to not cut up her hand and offer it to Rafael- despite him still stuck in his wolf-form. Hope has no idea if that would impact the heralding ability of her blood, but she shoves the urge down. 

Hope runs her fingers through Rafael’s coat, trying to find any injuries. His fur is coated with blood, fingers getting caught in knots. 

“Back up.” Hope tells Josie.

“But he’s…” 

“Back up. Give me that blanket you packed. Now!” Hope orders, and Josie hurries, tossing Hope the blanket once she finds it. Hope recites the spell Freya had taught her all those years ago once she has him covered. 

Hope watches quietly, hoping and praying that it’ll work. 

It does, and it reveals four deep gashes on Rafael’s chest. His breathing is in quick, shallow breaths and Hope feels useless as Josie watches her. Snapping out of her shock, Hope brings her wrist to her mouth and creates a small cut before gently holding it out to Rafael. 

He’s so out of it that he starts mumbling, and Hope can’t understand a word he says besides  _ Josie  _ and Hope finds herself blinking back tears. She doesn’t want to  _ force  _ him to drink her blood, but he’s dying and she doubts he even registers that she’s there with him. 

“Here, it’s okay,” Hope soothes, her hand on his shoulder. “I’m here. Drink this. It’s okay.” 

There’s a brief moment when he looks at her, and she smiles. “It’s okay, I got you.” She whispers. Rafael groans, and his head falls back to the ground. 

“Rafael…” 

“Josie, it’s okay,” Hope finds herself saying. She cradles the back of his head, propping it up. They have no idea how long Rafael has been like this, how much time he has. Josie must sense Hope’s urgency, because she manages to swallow down her own fear. 

“Raf, this is Hope and she’s going to help you,” Josie murmurs, in her cool and calming voice, holding Rafael’s hand. “She’s the one who brought you back. You’re going to be okay. I promise.” 

He groans in pain again, and Josie winces as he grips her hand harder. 

“Please,” Hope whispers, her shaking hand cupping the side of his face. It’s killing her to see Rafael in so much pain, to see Rafael not accept her help. “You won’t hurt after this. I promise.” 

She offers him her bloody wrist again, and this time, he accepts it. Hope’s relieved at his acceptance. The wounds on his chest start to slowly heal, until they turn into four white, angry scars. Hope frowns a bit when they don’t disappear. 

Josie watches the whole thing, staring at Hope. It unnerves Hope. She has no idea what Josie is thinking right now. 

Rafael finally pushes her hand away, and Hope puts some space between them. Josie immediately pulls Rafael into a hug. She can hear Rafael’s hushed whispers insisting that he’s okay, that he’s alive as Josie tells him how worried she was. 

Then, her and Josie are standing shoulder to shoulder as he gets dressed. 

“I didn’t know that was possible.” Josie mumbles, a bit absentmindedly. 

“What?” 

“You’re a werewolf, right? I didn’t know you guys could heal each other. I thought it was only vampire blood.” 

Hope bites the inside of her cheek. She hates lying to Josie. It makes her feel bad- her blood burns and her skin runs cold at the same time. Hope doesn’t understand it, because she’s never had problems with lying to people- until Josie, it seems. 

She has no answer for her, and she can’t come up with one in time. Rafael approaches them, throwing his arm around Josie’s shoulder casually- as if he wasn’t nearly dying a few moments ago. 

“Thanks, Jo.” 

“Hope helped.” 

Rafael looks over at Hope, and holds out his hand. “Thank you. I appreciate it. You a vampire or something?” 

“A wolf.” Hope answers quickly, shaking his hand. He looks confused, connecting the same dots that Josie did. 

To avoid their curious glances, she starts walking back towards the school wordlessly. It takes the three of them an hour to get back, and by the time they reach the front steps, there’s Emma standing by the door with her arms crossed. 

She seems to be upset, but her eyes are just as kind as Hope remembers. Her arms fall when she realizes that Rafael is with them, and her face floods with relief. 

“Rafael!” Emma greets happily, pulling him into a hug. Josie’s smiling, watching on. 

When Josie turns to thank Hope again, she’s gone. 


	3. Chapter 3

Josie finds Hope on the dock at the lake. 

For some reason, it’s the first place Josie looks for the other girl, and she’s suddenly relieved when she finds her. Hope just saved Rafael’s life, and walked away like it had meant nothing, like it wasn’t a big deal. 

Most people would have already asked Josie for something in return by now, but instead, Hope is sitting at the edge of the dock. Josie can’t help but feel like the shorter girl has already been there. 

She lingers for a few moments, letting Hope sulk and brood in her own thoughts. Josie is pretty sure that Hope is aware she’s there, but Hope hasn’t acknowledged her at all. 

“Hope?” Josie asks tentatively. She doesn’t want to startle Hope, just in case Hope isn’t aware that Josie’s there. Hope glances back at Josie. She can’t tell with the distance between them, but Josie thinks she sees tears in her eyes. “Can I sit with you? Or do you want to be alone right now?”

“I, uhm…” Hope takes a moment to think, “You can sit, if you want.”

So, Josie does. She sits down at the edge of the dock next to Hope, but she’s careful to put some space between them, despite this urge to reach out to her. 

It’s an urge Josie has had since she ran into Hope in the woods- to reach out and hold the other girl’s hand, to reach out and comfort her. 

Josie doesn’t know what she could possibly comfort Hope about, seeing that she’s just met the girl, but there’s this tug in her chest that’s been telling her to stay close- and has been for the last three days. 

She spent an embarrassing amount of time next to an unconscious Hope, waiting for her to wake up after Josie had made her pass out. Lizzie had made fun of her for it, countless times, but Josie had stayed until her father showed up and successfully managed to kick her out. 

Now, here they are, sitting at the dock, and Hope is clearly upset. 

She’s upset and Josie doesn’t know how to comfort her, which only makes her feel useless, and as if she’s done something wrong. Josie could list about twenty things that she has done wrong, and her and Hope have only spent one day together. 

“Rafael’s going to be okay,” Josie says. “Obviously, it’ll be rough for him to get used to being in school again, and it’ll take a while, but he’ll be okay. Because of you. Thank you.” 

Something similar to a smile ghosts Hope’s face. “Good, I’m glad he’s okay.” 

“I told him to rest, and he kept asking about you.” 

A real smile this time, “Yeah?” 

Josie nods. “Says he wants to thank you personally, again.” 

“He doesn’t have to worry about it,” Hope answers. “I think he would have done the same for me, if he could.” 

“He would have.” Josie confirms, because Josie knows Rafael. He wouldn’t have hesitated to offer his help to Hope she had needed it. 

Hope nods silently, and the conversation ends there. Hope seems to be fine with it, staring out at the water as Josie grows uneasy. She starts to toy with the sleeve of her shirt, wishing that she could think of the right thing to say, but her brain comes up blank. 

Truth is, despite how much Josie’s chest tugs her towards Hope, despite how much Josie wants to place her hand on top of Hope’s, Josie doesn’t  _ know  _ her. 

They’re simply strangers. For now. 

Maybe they’ll always be strangers. 

Maybe Hope will leave the school and Josie will never see her again. Maybe, maybe. Josie already finds herself wishing Hope would stay. 

Hope is crying- for real, now. Josie watches as Hope wipes away the tears that fall down her cheek angrily, and she lets out an exasperated sigh. 

“Sorry,” Hope says with a forced laugh. “It’s just… he reminded me of someone I used to know, and I… I’ve been on my own for a while...” 

Josie doesn’t say anything. She sits and waits for Hope to continue, since she’s clearly holding back. Hope looks over at Josie, and Josie isn’t sure what to do under her gaze. There’s a few moments of silence as they stare, Josie getting completely enamored by just how  _ blue  _ Hope’s eyes are. 

Hope looks away first, shaking her head a bit, “Do you ever get tired of being alone?” Hope asks the question, looking down- almost as if she’s embarrassed to ask.

“Yes,” Josie answers, still not able to look away. “All the time, or feeling like people don’t understand me.” 

Hope makes what Josie assumes is a noise of agreement, “I hate when that happens,” She exhales shakily. “That’s the worst kind of being alone, isn’t it?” 

“Yes.” 

“I, uhm… I did some things before I got here,” Hope blurts. “Not…  _ bad  _ things. Just questionable. For the people I love, and I just…” She laughs. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this.” 

“We can ignore them, if you want,” Josie offers. Almost everyone at the school has done something questionable, or something they regret. Something that haunts them, Josie knows  _ she  _ has. Yet, the doors are always open- that’s the whole point. “Start something new here.” 

Hope nods. “Maybe I will.”

It’s not a definite answer, but it’s enough to make Josie’s chest feel a small burst of warmth. She barely knows Hope, but she’s already afraid of the idea of Hope leaving, of Hope disappearing and being out on her own.

She may be a wolf, but that doesn’t mean she should be alone. Josie doesn’t want her to be alone. 

Too many bad things happen when people are alone. 

“How’s your stomach?” Josie asks, suddenly remembering. “You were right, you were poisoned by something.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s fine now. Not even a scar.” 

“Okay, good. I’m glad.” 

“How’d you get rid of it?” 

Josie hesitates to answer. Everyone always reacts differently when they find out she’s a siphoner- especially the other witches. She doesn’t know how Hope would react, but Hope’s looking at her again, waiting. 

“I, uhm… I siphoned some of it,” Josie confesses quietly. “I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but it did.” 

“You  _ siphoned  _ the poison from me?” Hope demands, and for a second Josie’s afraid that it’s because Hope’s mad, mad at Josie for simply existing, mad at her for  _ stealing  _ her magic. “You could have died!” 

Josie was expecting some sort of visceral reaction, but she wasn’t expecting Hope to be so... concerned. Scared, even. She finds herself defending her actions, a bit shocked by Hope’s reaction.

“It worked! Why does it matter? You didn’t even know I’m a siphoner until just now.” 

Hope gets to her feet, and Josie can see new tension in Hope’s shoulders. She takes a few steps back, turning away from Josie. 

What the hell?

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Hope says, mostly to herself. “I can’t have anyone else get hurt or die because of me.” 

Josie swallows roughly, not expecting Hope’s sudden mood change. Actually, Josie was expecting some anger, maybe a bit of confusion since they don’t  _ know  _ each other, but she wasn’t expecting this. 

“Hope…” Josie scrambles to her feet, nearly sending herself into the water below in her rush. “It’s okay, I’m fine. I’m not hurt.” 

“You could have been.” 

“You were  _ dying. _ ” 

“Should’ve let me.” Hope mutters out bitterly. 

“No. No, don’t…. Don’t say that.” 

_ What is wrong with you? _ Nearly spills out of Josie’s mouth, but she manages to keep it in. She knows better than to ask that, no matter who it is. Hope’s obviously having a hard time, and Josie doesn’t want to say or do anything that would make it worse. 

Josie almost reaches out. 

Almost.

She almost reaches for Hope’s hand to comfort her, but something stops her before she does. She finds herself standing there, hands hanging awkwardly at her sides as Hope stares at the splintering wood at their feet. 

Josie may be wrong, but she thinks she sees Hope’s eyes flash a slight gold before she squeezes them shut and mumbles out an apology. 

“Josie!”

It’s her dad, clearly annoyed. Not just annoyed, but thoroughly pissed off. Before either one of them react, he’s shouting for her again, “ _ Josette!”  _

“I have to go,” Josie says, but the words don’t feel like her own- they aren’t. She doesn’t want to leave Hope right now. “Can we talk later? You’ll be here, right? At the school?” 

Hope takes a few seconds to answer, “I’ll be here.”

Josie may be over-reacting, overwhelmed in that moment, but she feels like a tiny, miniscule part of her dies when she leaves Hope standing on the dock alone, the setting sun illuminating Hope’s blue eyes.

* * *

Josie is grounded until college. 

Apparently, saving one of the school’s students is stupid and reckless, which leads to the determination of how long she’s grounded this time. (Josie doesn’t tell him he’s not the headmaster anymore.)

Lizzie is also grounded, even though she didn’t do anything- at least nothing Josie knows of. Their dad spends the better part of two hours yelling at them and Josie thinks he would have gone on for longer if Kaleb didn’t knock on their door and claim he’s been giving all of the vampires a headache. 

Their dad mutters out an apology to him, gives the two of them one last look before he just sighs and leaves- slamming the door behind him.

The moment he’s gone, Lizzie turns to Josie, “You saved Raf?!”

“ _ Hope  _ saved Raf.” Josie corrects. 

“Who the hell is Hope?”

“... the girl who was passed out for like, two days…?”

Lizzie so conveniently remembers Hope at this moment, “You mean the girl who’s been in your dreams for three months.”

Josie slaps Lizzie’s arm, “We said we’re not talking about that!  _ Especially  _ since she’s here!” 

Lizzie laughs, grabbing her pillow and hits Josie with it, “Jo, are you really surprised that she almost died in your arms?” 

“Yes.”

“You literally spent the last three months watching some girl we don’t know die, and we’re witches. We knew that was some foreboding shit.” 

“Do you think we should tell dad?” Josie asks, unsurely. “Or should I tell Hope?” 

“Tell her what, that she’s gonna die soon?” 

“Lizzie!” 

“ _ What?! _ I’m being realistic.” 

“Lizzie, seriously…” Josie mumbles. She wishes she had her sister’s ability to somehow make everything seem lighter, until something really bad actually happens, but there’s a feeling at the pit of her stomach that this is different. 

They’re witches. Any dream that seems to have a connection to the supernatural world is warning, and this is a warning that Josie had nearly every night for three months. 

A warning that she ignored, swept under the rug because it was easier to ignore it over telling her father. Because it was easier to act like she was in love with Landon, or that she was having a great summer.

Josie hates it. Of course, the only person she told was Lizzie- who only did what she’s doing now- acting like it’s not a big deal, making it into some kind of joke because that’s how Lizzie likes to deal with things.

There’s no way Hope is actually going to die soon, right? There’s no immediate threat, and there’s no monsters attacking the school anymore. 

Images of Hope bleeding and calling for Josie flash behind her eyelids, and she shifts uncomfortably. She throws the pillow back at Lizzie and rolls her eyes. 

It’s not nothing. She  _ knows  _ that it’s not. 

“It’s probably nothing,” Josie says. “All that foreboding shit was just her being poisoned.” 

Lizzie nods in agreement, despite looking distracted, “Probably. Don’t worry about it, Jo. She’s safe right now.”

It’s not nothing. 

That night, Josie dreams of Hope dying again. 

She wishes she can say she’s surprised, but she’s not. 

In her dream, Hope’s laying in the woods with a stake in her chest and Josie’s cradling her head, telling her that someone will be there to help them soon, promising Hope that she’ll be okay. 

_ It’s okay. Jed’s going to find us and it’ll be okay.  _ Josie had promised, wiping some blood from Hope’s chin. 

Hope had mumbled some incoherent things, and despite Josie’s best attempts at a healing spell, Hope dies, and Josie catches a glimpse of a silver chain in Hope’s hand.   
  


* * *

“Ahh!” MG shrieks as he walks into his room, his hands immediately tightening the towel around his waist. “Josie!” 

Josie stares at the ceiling- she had no idea MG was in the shower. If she knew that vital piece of information, she would have waited to rummage through his room. “I’m sorry!” She squeaks- not sure if she should continue to stare at the ceiling or cover her eyes. 

Leave. She should just leave, right? MG might be her best friend, but she really doesn’t want to see…  _ that.  _

“Uhm. Don’t move?” MG says unsurely, and the door slams shut, drawers open and close quickly. “Okay, you can look now.” He tells her, and she gives him an apologetic smile as she looks at him- thankfully fully dressed. 

Thank god for vamp speed, or Josie’s sure the two of them would have made it a lot worse. 

“I’m so sorry for just barging in here, I’m not stealing anything, I promise,” Josie explains. “I just… the necklace I gave you, the one when the triad attacked…”

“The talisman?” MG questions. “I thought I gave that back…” He quickly picks up on Josie’s urgency, with the way she bounces on the balls of her feet, “Jo, are you okay?”

“I, uhm… I just really need it. Please? It’s important.” 

Important.  _ Extremely  _ important. Josie has no idea why she saw Hope holding it in her bloody hand. It’s just a dream- Josie knows that, that dreams aren’t entirely reliable, but the sight struck a nerve. 

Sure, Josie can think of the moment Landon had given her the talisman, and the moment she had lent it to MG during the attack- but the memory doesn’t feel right when she plays it over. 

It doesn’t feel like her  _ own.  _

“Does Landon want this back or something?”

“What? No. I want it back.” 

Josie has to refrain herself from saying that it’s not Landon’s. 

MG gives her a weird look at her quick response, but he begins to look through some of his drawers. A few moments later, he holds it up victoriously. 

“Here you go, Jo.”

“Thanks!” Josie takes it back carefully, and the moment she has it secured, she runs out of MG’s room, leaving him confused. 

She finds herself holding it like it’s some fine, precious thing that she can’t lose- and maybe it is. She isn’t exactly sure what it means yet, but she plans on finding out.   
  


* * *

Hope is lost. 

It turns out, they completely renovated the school in the three (four?) months Hope was gone. The new headmaster also added classes that seem to be useless to them, but aren’t they all? 

After a few wrong turns and looking into the wrong rooms, Hope finally finds herself in the right classroom with Dorian, and Josie is standing in front of the class- looking nervous.

Dorian doesn’t mind Hope’s interruption, “You must be Hope! I’m glad you found us…” 

Hope does her best to smile and nod along, not wanting any attention on her. She sits down at the empty spot, feeling Josie’s eyes burn into her back. 

What class is this? Mythology and Folklore? Hope isn’t sure if she’s supposed to be taking notes or anything, but she tries to sink into her seat, hoping to draw as little attention as possible. 

“Okay, Josie, you can start again.” Dorian says after sending another student a look of annoyance. They try to look apologetic- and they are. Hope has no idea why she’s watching the interaction. 

“Huh…” Josie looks away from Hope, back at her paper. “There’s this Japanese Legend of the Red String. Everyone’s pinky is tied to an invisible red string that will lead them to another person whom they will make history with. The string is believed to be fate.” 

Hope’s surprised by the amount of confidence in Josie’s voice, not expecting it with the way she had looked nervous when Hope barged in. Hope can’t help but sit up straighter, lean in a little closer to listen. Josie sounds so confident, as if she’s seen it happen, as if she’s  _ experienced  _ it firsthand, and it’s riveting to Hope. 

“This thread connects two people through their lifetime, and those people are destined to meet. No matter the circumstances, time or place. Two people who are connected in this way are bound together by Fate itself. Sooner or later, they are destined to meet, no matter how far apart they live or how much their life circumstances differ. And, when it happens - that encounter is certain to profoundly affect both of them. The strings can sometimes stretch and become tangled, which could postpone the fateful meeting. But - those ties will never be broken,” 

Josie glances up from her paper. She fidgets with the edge nervously, but she continues to look at Hope- as if Hope is the only person in the room. 

Brown eyes pour into blue. Josie doesn’t look away as she finishes her essay. 

“Since this thread can knot and stretch over time and it never breaks, it proves that the bonds we create with others are far more important than what life throws at us.” 

Hope doesn’t think she’s ever paid so much attention in class. She listens to every word Josie has to say about the thread of fate, and holds onto it as if it’s the answers to the universe. 

By the time Josie finishes, class is nearly over, her presentation taking up most of their class time, and a few of her fellow students look bored. Hope chooses to ignore them, watching as Josie stands awkwardly, waiting for more instructions from Dorian 

He thanks Josie for her work, and she finally makes her way back to her desk. Hope watches her as she does, not sure why she’s so captivated by the presentation. 

She’s always been observant of Josie, even before she jumped into Malivore. She’s always watched Josie from afar, learned things about Josie on her own terms. People had always kept their distance from Hope then- because she was Hope Mikaelson. 

Josie’s not like the others. She was always kind and helpful when they interacted, but Lizzie or her father would always stop Hope and Josie from getting too close. 

Hope’s not Hope Mikaelson- at least not right now. 

The idea of the people she loves and cares for never remembering her terrifies her- and it probably will for the rest of her days, but the idea is less scary when she looks at Josie. 

Josie, who saved her life and siphoned  _ poison  _ from her, without knowing who she is. Josie, who has no idea that they’ve already shared a lifetime together, roaming the halls and passing by in classes, to defeating monsters together, still looks at her the same way. 

Still looks at Hope like Josie knows her. Like she understands Hope. It’s the exact same look she got from Josie when they were twelve. How Josie still looked at her and treated her kindly after the entire school found out she’s a Mikaelson, the daughter of the great evil.

Hope wonders how that could possibly be. 

Josie catches Hope staring, looking a bit confused- a bit dazed, even. 

Hope just smiles at her. 

Josie smiles warmly back. 

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me ur thoughts and feedback plz 🥺


End file.
